Picture of the Week - 12/31/2021

 Wishing you the happiest of New Years!  Blessings for a fabulous 2022!

Picture of the Week - 12/23/2021

 Wishing you all a very Merry Christmas!!  

Picture of the Week - 12/16/2021

 You all already know that our lives are totally consumed by wrestling...  but this week it feels a little like we are over the hump of all the hard work I am responsible for coordinating!  We are nearly to the stage of getting to watch and enjoy!

Bob and I chaperoned - and fed - 26 kids and 3 coaches last weekend in a giant cabin in Gatlinburg.  It was exhausting - and one of the best things I've gotten to do in a long time!  The weekend was so fun for those kids - they had a blast and made some great memories!  There was very little sleep - but also very little drama.  We even hosted a cookout for all the parents on Saturday and piled about 30 more people into the house.  I love that wrestling family of ours and am so very grateful that we still have Zane and Beck because I can't imagine being nearly "done" with our time as Team Parents/Booster Club Presidents/Organizers of the Chaos.  Serving this team fills a piece of my heart!  I love every stressed out minute of it.

Last night was Quinn's senior night.  He lost - and so did the team.  Not the best senior night ever, but today everyone is back to work and looking to get the job done this weekend.  I didn't get a single picture from Senior night - because I am TERRIBLE at taking pictures.  We did have a photographer there, so eventually we will get some great pictures I am sure...  but I should have at least gotten one of our family.  Sheesh...  I need to work on that!

I did grab some pictures that some other folks took from last weekend that I thought would be fun to share.  :)

Tomorrow we get Spencer back!  I'm excited that he's going to get to spend a good few weeks with us.  I think he needs to be back around the 8th, but the details are a little sketchy...  the wrestling team responsibilities don't become clear as far in advance as I would like!!  

Then on Saturday I get to take Zane and Beck to a tournament.  It's a pretty big one - so I expect they will each get a number of matches.  It should be a fun time!  After Saturday - aside from practices - we are done until after Christmas.  I think everyone needs a little break - and I know Quinn needs a minute to let his body recover some.  I'm guessing Spencer is the same way, but he never complains.

SO hard to believe that Christmas is next week!  I just about finished up all my wrapping and am definitely done with my buying!!!  I don't even have to bake this year - because all of the boys are being careful with their weight right now (not cutting, but need to maintain...  so cookies will have to wait).  It's just about time to just chill and enjoy each other!  WOO HOO!!!

Have a great week - and enjoy the last of whatever preparations you are doing.  Remember what a blessing it is to have people to work for!  It means you are connected and needed and loved.  That's not a small thing!

Picture of the Week - 12/9/2021

 TRUTH - None of what you are about to read is me complaining in any way.  FOR REAL!  I have loved every step of this project!

But

It's a LOT of work layered into a busy time of year... 

Tomorrow morning Bob and I are packing up the Bob-mobile with a bunch of food and supplies and a handful of kids to head to Gatlinburg.  We are chaperoning the wrestling team in a gigantic cabin for a weekend tournament.  We have 26 kids and 5 adults going.  I've put together the food plan, transportation arrangements, found and booked the cabin, and worked out room assignments.  I have made some food, will make a bunch more over the next 3 days, and have spent several sleepless nights worrying about what I'm forgetting.  

I'm not complaining.  I really love it all.  I'm going to miss it SOOOOOO much next year.  Thank God (for realz) that I have 2 more boys that I get to do this with in a few short years.  I'm not ready to be done.  

Is it a lot of work - Hell yes.  Is it worth it - Hell yes!

My only wish (not a complaint) was that wrestling season wasn't completely overlapped with Christmas season.  

Have a fun week - and wish us luck in our trek to TN.  (And please let 8 loaves of bread be enough...)

Picture of the Week - 12/2/2021

 Did you miss me?

Did anyone even notice I was "missing" the last 2 weeks?  (crickets)

I didn't really MEAN to skip POTW 2 weeks in a row.  I never really MEAN to skip it at all.  But life happens and my memory is sometimes bad and sometimes I'm just not in the mood to stop having fun (or working) to do an email.  And what probably sounds like a ridiculously lame excuse, my employer just increased their "security" and I can't get personal email on my work computer any more.  Sounds like a minor thing...  is not a minor thing...  I fully acknowledge that this is a first world problem, but it's cause some upheaval in my routines!

So what have we been up to?  Mostly wrestling.  And visiting with family.  We got to enjoy Spencer being home for Thanksgiving week - although we didn't actually SEE much of him as he was off having fun with his friends the majority of his break.  It's nice to see that he's doing well.  He also got to wrestle here in Georgia at Life University and won his first couple of collegiate matches.  Pretty fun!  Picture of him in his old West singlet because he was wrestling as an "unattached" wrestler while the Citadel starters were competing at a tournament at the Naval Academy.  I DO still long to get a picture of him in a Citadel singlet...  someday!

On Tuesday of  Thanksgiving week West held our annual Thanksgiving Duals.  It's my favorite tourney of the year.  I think it's because of the time of year maybe...  it's the first big tourney we do with local teams every year.  It's home and I really enjoy hanging out with all the other West families for the day.  I've no idea what I'm going to do next year when I'm not in charge any more...  Maybe they will let me run concessions just for fun!  Quinn had a pretty good tournament and the team is looking really strong again.  It should be a great season again for West Wrestling.

Zane and Beck got to compete recently too!  Zane went undefeated and Beck went 3-2.  Both boys look really good and are having a blast.  They are working 4 days a week at getting better!  We have a couple of weeks before they get to compete again, but I'm already looking forward to it!

In between all the wrestling we got to have a really nice dinner out with my parents, had a football party with all the coaches and families from Bob's team, celebrated the end of Zane's Midway football career at his football party (middle school football here we come!), and of course we had Thanksgiving!  It's been a fun, busy couple of weeks around here!

The rest of the month looks just as wild!  This weekend Bob and Quinn are off to North Carolina for a big dual tournament with some of the best teams in that area.  It'll be a challenge for our guys for sure!  And I'll be home with Zane and Beck getting ready to take the high school team up to Gatlinburg the following weekend for a super fun stay in a super cool cabin.  Bob and I are chaperoning - and responsible for feeding the whole crew.  I'm prepping the coolers and crock pots!

I hope you had a great second half of November and are gearing up for the rest of the Holiday season!  We're mostly focused on wrestling mats, but we DID manage to get our trees and outside decorations up!  Christmas presents are mostly ordered/obtained too!  I love this time of year!

Picture of the Week 11/11/2021

 Wrestling wrestling wrestling - It's taken over my life.  And I love it all!  It's my favorite time of year!

I love this season and this sport.  (Although I do kinda hate that it overlaps all the holidays...  Someday I will relish the idea of an elaborate and calorie-rich cookie tray again...)

So many wrestling things going on...

First - Spencer had his first official collegiate match last weekend.  I am just so proud of him.  My parents and I went down to watch him and despite a 0-2 record for the tournament, I can't help but be in awe of how well he's doing.  He's just so settled.  He's figured out the college life and has his priorities right where they need to be.  He's doing well in his classes, competitive in the wrestling room, and working on finding a summer internship and nailing down his summer plans.  He's thriving in Charleston and it makes my mama-heart so full!

Second - Quinn has won his wrestle off to earn a spot at 138lbs on our varsity team this year.  (The team is SO big, nearly 70 strong, that he will likely get pushed to fight for this spot all year.)  I'm so thrilled for him to be in the Varsity A line-up (yes, we also have a Varsity B team...) this year.  He's worked hard to earn his spot!  And yet, when the team goes to their first competition this weekend, he will not be there.  Why?  Because he's taking a trip with his church Small Group to Chattanooga for the weekend.  His faith is so much stronger than mine was at his age and I love love love that he leans into it.  He's just an all-round cool dude.  

Third - Zane also won a wrestle-off this week to earn a spot at 125 lbs on the middle school duals team.  This is a pretty big feat for a 6th grader!  Our youth program this year has blossomed to over 50 kids.  Zane is a leader in that room and he transitioned from football to wrestling without missing a beat.  I really can't wait to watch him wrestle this year!  He's on the top end of the 12U age group and has a few years of experience under his belt now.  His club team coach asked him to travel with them to a duals tournament in Virginia Beach in December after watching his FIRST PRACTICE after football season.  Zane weighs the same as he did last year, but has grown 2-3 inches.  Should be a pretty fun season for him.

Fourth - Beckett is last, but certainly not least.  He's wrestling too and while he's not old enough for middle school duals just yet, he's got some individual tournaments coming up that should be pretty fun.  Beckett is pretty laid back about things in general, but he does have an aggressive side that tends to come out on the football field and the wrestling mat - when he wants to, he will.  

And last - there's the parental-involvement...  Bob and I are having a really great time volunteering our time and talents to this sport and these teams.  It's fun.  I really enjoy helping new folks learn the ins and outs of wrestling.  And this week, I'm really really glad that all the high school team uniforms are finally distributed to the wrestlers.  They had transformed my dining room into a bit of a messy-storage room look.  Better Homes and Gardens is never gonna come knocking on my door!  (And that's A-OK with me!)

Here's a picture of me and Spencer at last weekend's Citadel Open and a couple of pictures of our vast organizational challenge - aka wrestling uniform distribution...

Picture of the Week 11/4/2021

 As football winds down, wrestling takes off

Last weekend was Beckett's last game as they lost their playoff game.  So he's moved onto wrestling practice 3x week (for now).  Zane, however, won his playoff game so he's still doing the juggling thing with 3 football practices and 2 wrestling practices this week.  He's busy!  Quinn and Spencer are both doing wrestling practice every day.  

Here are a couple of pictures from Zane's game last Saturday.  I have really enjoyed watching him play this year.  He's having a blast and you can tell by his performance every week.  He's a beast on the line.  Some of his football play reminds me SO much of Spencer.  He has a ridiculously fast first step off the line and really excellent form in his stance.  It's textbook form - low butt, flat back, face up.  He's different than Spence was though because he knows the game so much better at 12 years old than Spencer did at this age.  I credit hours and hours of Madden.   It's also that he seems to just enjoy the whole thing more.  He has FUN first - and knows when to switch into "job mode".  Spencer was always so serious that I'm not sure he liked it as much as Zane does.  Win or lose this weekend, I'm so grateful that he had this team this year to prep him for middle school football tryouts in the spring.  It's weird to think that Saturday may be his last ever Midway football game.  Oy - that just made my eyes water!  7 seasons in the blink of an eye.  Couple of picture of Zane - one of him snatching up a fumble and one of him fighting through a double-team, which he did through that entire game without getting frustrated or backing down.  I love his attitude!

Yesterday Quinn won his wrestle-off to earn a spot on the Varsity A team.  Pretty excited about that!  Last year he got bumped to JV, so I'm really proud of him for working to get back into a starter role this year.  The high school team, which had about 30 total kids (maybe) when Spencer started 5 years ago is up to almost 70.  It's crazy how fast that program has grown.  Success makes everyone take notice and want to participate!  I have a dining room full of team gear to prove it!

Tomorrow I'm grabbing Berber and Pappy and we are heading to Charleston to see Spencer.  The Citadel is hosting an Open tournament which means all the wrestlers will get to wrestle - even the non-starters.  I'm pretty excited that we will get to watch him in his first collegiate matches.  Here's a picture of Spencer and the rest of the wrestling team in the wrestling room in their winter uniforms - they call them Salt and Peppers - after an inspection.  He's the second from the right.

Have a great week everyone!  

Picture of the Week 10/28/2021

 All kinds of fun stuff crammed into the back-half of October!  It's one of the reasons I love October so much!!!

Last weekend was Homecoming!  It's always fun to see all the kids we have watched grow up get all fancy and head out to have a fun evening.  It's even more fun to watch your SENIOR get excited about the clothes, the plans, the pictures, and the time with friends.  Here's a sweet picture of Quinn and his date, Jess.  They are adorable.

Then Sunday was a celebration of my parent's 50th wedding anniversary, which is tomorrow.  Wow!  That's a pretty impressive milestone!  It was fun to spend some time visiting with their friends and reminiscing about all the memories they have made over the last 50 years.  So fun!  Tricia and I put together this cool mosaic for them using (literally) hundreds of pictures that would never have been if it were for their love story.  Take a look!  Also - if you ever need a cool mosaic, I highly recommend http://www.allyourphotos.com !  I had a blast putting this together!  

This weekend is playoff football for Zane and Beckett.  Here's their picture from this year.  Look how big they are both getting!  Goodness someone slow time down!!

Have a great week everyone - and Happy Halloween!!

Here's the online version of the 50th Anniversary mosaic - if you are interested, you can zoom ALL THE WAY in to see each of the individual pictures.  So fun!  https://allyourphotos.com/#/share/6Y5bkybA

Picture of the Week - 10/21/2021

 Beckett turned 10 on Tuesday.  Mind blown!

I know it's so so so cliché, but I can't believe my baby is 10.  Related...  how in the world are we old enough to have a 19 year old.  Sometimes these things just wash over me (and of course I celebrate them) without really knocking me on my butt.  Sometimes I have to sit, truly in wonder, at the reality of this big, crazy life Bob and I have built.  It's equal parts incomprehensible and also so so so, just, well real.  It's is us.  And I love all of it.

Beckett at 10 is a pretty cool dude.  He's personable and bright.  He can play sports with kids or spout off random facts he's learned from Youtube.  His 4th grade teacher told us in a conference recently that he had nothing at all to worry about in his classwork, but should focus on his classroom behavior.  He likes to be liked - a LOT.  It's really important for him to be surrounded by friends and 90% of the time he is.  He wrote on his student-led conference prep sheet that he thought he'd talk less if he didn't sit near his friends.  In the conference she asked him who he should be moved away from.  He, no joke, rattled off like 8-9 kids...  that's almost half the class.  So yeah...  moving seats isn't going to work.  :)

Beck is a big dude.  He's actually as big as Spencer was at 10 years old, which is the first time on his growth chart that he's matched the oldest Bovy's chart.  Not sure if that means he will end up being as big as Spence in the end, but I don't think it will matter.  He's a really strong, solid kid.  He knows his way around a football line - both offense and defense - and will wrestle this winter at 110 lbs...  I think.  He's in the middle of a growth spurt right now, so who knows where he'll be by our first tournament in a month.

At home Beck is still willing to do/help with just about anything we ask him to do.  He likes to be useful and (back to wanting to be liked) the feedback he gets when he does stuff feeds an important part of his psyche.  It's sometimes weird to me that he's become SO independent and self-sufficient.  We moved him to his own room in August and he's done a really great job keeping it pretty clean, putting away his own clothes, and getting himself dressed for school every day.  Last school year, those were all things we did for or with him.  So much can change in 12 months.

Tonight, after football practice, Bob and his assistant coaches are taking the whole team for pizza to celebrate birthdays.  Can you believe that 3 of the coaches all have kids with birthdays THIS week?  So much fun!  After pizza, Beck is headed home with one of the families for a sleepover, totally taking advantage of their day off school tomorrow.  

This weekend we have the last of our regular season football games and then onto the playoffs - and whenever that ends it's right into wrestling season.  Quinn starts "real" season practice on Monday.  Spencer has his first intra-squad match on Wednesday.  The merry-go-round just keeps on going round...  and the next thing you know it's been 10 years.  

Speaking of big milestones - we get to celebrate my parent's 50th (!!!) wedding anniversary on Sunday!  What a great accomplishment and what wonderful role models.  I hope in 2047 my boys throw a wild party to celebrate our 50th too!  It's crazy to think about that, but also...  how the heck did I get a 10 year old?!?!?!?  Happy GOLDEN Anniversary Berber and Pappy!  We love you!

Picture of the Week - 10/14/2021

 In a perfect world, I would have Beckett's 10 year birthday collage ready to share with you all today.  And I would be able to gush about how much I love him and how much he's changed and share all the crazy fun things about him in preparation for his birthday on Tuesday.  Alas, it's not done and I'm not ready and well...  it's a work in progress.  (I was 80% there when I accidentally deleted the file and I can't deal with that right now...  I have 8 minutes before a Citadel Wrestling Parent's zoom call that will hopefully help answer the MANY questions we have about the season!)

Speaking of Spencer...  I will take this diversion of my plans as an opportunity to share his yearbook picture.  So handsome!

Check in next week for all things Beckett!  

Picture of the Week - 10/7/2021

 Happy Thursday!

Just me or has this week flown by?  Like lightening speed...

We have been plugging along this week - in the rain all week - after our whirlwind of a September.  Trying to get caught up on mundane things like laundry and meal prep - and work...  and already looking forward to our next mini-adventure.

Bob and I had such a good time in Charleston for Parent's weekend.  It was as much a really cool visit with Spencer as it was a couple's getaway.  Honestly, I didn't really expect the second part, so it was a really nice surprise.  We ended up with a LOT of time waiting for Spencer in one area or another and had a great time just being together.  Huge shout out to QUINN and my parents for helping with Zane, Beck and the dogs while we were gone.  They covered football practices and games and church and generally just handled stuff so we could escape.  It was lovely!

I think the next few weeks will be pretty standard fair (which is a bit of a relief and also a little boring after back to back to back weekends of fun stuff - and a lot of miles on the cars!)  We have work and school and football.  Quinn is gearing up for homecoming and wrestling season launches on October 25th.  I'm heading back to Charleston (with whichever boys aren't playing football/busy and taking my parents this time!) the first weekend of November to watch the Citadel Open wrestling tournament - which will be the first college tourney for Spencer.  Pretty excited!  Coach has said that everyone on the roster will get to wrestle since it's an open at home.  woot!

Hard to believe we are already talking about events in November!

Have a great week - and here's hoping we see the SUN sometime soon here in Georgia!

Picture of the Week - 10/1/2021

 Happy Happy October!

We have had SO MANY happy things going on 'round here!

We just finished a fun Fall break trip, got to see Quinn's amazing senior pictures (more on that later), and celebrated Spencer and Zane's birthdays.  

Now we are in Charleston about to head to the Citadel campus for day 1 of Parent's weekend festivities.  Our first Parent's weekend - and the first time I get to see Spencer since he started!  So excited about that!!

There's a lot...  and I've done a poor job of saving time to write about it all because I'm too busy enjoying each thing.  Hope you all have a great first week of October!  I'll share more about our Charleston trip on the flip side!!

Picture of the Week - 9/23/2021

 Time to celebrate QUINN!

Quinn is our only non-fall birthday and next week kicks off birthday season for us, so the timing on this Quinn celebration couldn't happen at a better time!

Quinn has been looking at some colleges in Georgia and starting to figure out what life after high school might look like.  He's decided that (as of now) his first choice school is Georgia Southern University.  I mentioned last week that he and Bob were doing an official visit on Monday and he didn't see anything to change his mind.  And then, in what is the most perfect timing ever, the day after he got home he got his official acceptance notification letting him know that he is welcome to become a GSU Eagle on the Statesboro campus next fall.  Woot!  He's pretty excited and we are so happy for him!  We have a few other options to check out (mostly for due diligence purposes), but GSU is a great fit for Quinn and I know he would be happy there!

Here's a picture of Quinn on campus.  They weren't able to get very many pictures because it was pouring rain while they were visiting.  They did get to tour a dorm - which is much nicer than our first couple of apartments - LOL!  

Spencer's 19th birthday is Monday, but we won't really get to celebrate with him until we see him next weekend for Parent's Weekend.  And Zane turns 12 on Wednesday - more on that - including the traditional birthday collage next week.

We are up in Ohio now and looking forward to visiting with friends and family - and hoping the weather forecast clears up a bit for the OSU game Saturday evening.  It will be a whirlwind trip, but a fun break from reality and a good excuse to spend some quality time with the boys - and each other!

Picture of the Week - 9/16/2021

 There are so many fun and cool and awesome things happening right now!  Life is good, y'all!

Let's see...  where to start...

Beck and Zane are both doing great!  They are really enjoying school (as much as tweener boys enjoy school) and football.  Zane has settled right into middle school and has found a whole new group of friends.  We are in a weird feeder pattern here where only about 40 kids go from our elementary to our middle.  Thank goodness for sports because there are some friendly football/wrestling faces in the 6th grade hall!  Both of these boys are also growth spurting something crazy.  I'm including a picture of Zane, who is about to pass me in height.  He's pretty pumped about it...

Quinn is living his best life!  He has started his college application process, knocked out another round of SAT testing, and hits the weight room regularly getting ready for wrestling season.  We also got his senior yearbook picture proofs back and he has a college visit scheduled for Monday for his first choice school.

Bob and Quinn are heading to Charleston on Saturday with a bag of goodies for Spencer and a couple of tickets to the Citadel football game.  They will get to spend Sunday with Spencer and then will head over to Statesboro on Monday morning to visit Georgia Southern.  I wish I could go, alas I'm on Zane football duty - and of course work...

Bob doesn't have to worry about work next week because tomorrow is his last day at ADP.  He's been there for 21.5 years, so this is not a small change for us!  He will likely end up doing a very similar job, but maybe on the client-side instead of the vendor side.  We shall see.  The change is long overdue and I'm excited for him!

The boys are on fall break next week, which means that next Wednesday we all get to escape for a quick trip up to Ohio.  I am so grateful that Bob's sister has agreed to take Quinn's "real" senior pictures for us!  And we got tickets to an OSU game, which will be the first game we've seen in person since I graduated.  Crazy!

Good stuff all around!  Oh yeah, and the Citadel wrestling roster is updated on the website and includes a picture of Spencer.  That makes the whole thing even more real!  He's the first D1 wrestler West Forsyth high school has ever produced.  Pretty proud about all he's accomplishing and how he's handling the whole situation.  2021-22 Wrestling Roster - The Citadel Athletics

2021-22 Wrestling Roster - The Citadel Athletics The official 2021-22 Wrestling Roster for the The Citadel Bulldogs

Now if we can just get these tropical storms to take a breath and stop sending rivers of atmospheric moisture through Georgia...  

Have a great week!!

Picture of the Week - 9/9/2021

 I may have mentioned recently (or maybe not - I honestly can't remember anything these days...) that Zane and Beck are both going through growth spurts right now.  The logical part of me has recognized and acknowledge this.  And yet, I've not gone through their clothes to pull out the *many* too small things and it still surprises me to get a hug from Zane where we are eye-to-eye.  Like seriously, who told them they could grow up?

Here's a picture of my nearly 10-year-old, looking more like 15...

Time - it marches on...

All is well here.  We had a really really great long weekend with a perfect mix of adventure, relaxation, and weed-pulling.  Back to school and work and football this week.  

Quinn had his senior pictures taken for the yearbook last week!  Again with that passage of time thing...  I'm really excited for his senior milestones.  It will be fun to celebrate him and see where he decides to head with his next phase.  He's most-likely going to stay in Georgia, which makes me happy for many reasons!  Right now I think Georgia Southern is at the top of his list, but he is also going to check out Kennesaw State and Georgia College.  Stay tuned for more on this soon...  Bob is taking Quinn for an official visit to Georgia Southern after a quick visit to see Spencer next weekend.  

Spence is doing great and I've FOR SURE had more conversations with him in the last 3 weeks than I did in the last 9 months he was home.  :)  Every time I talk to him I am impressed by how he's adapting and grateful that he seems content and settled.  I've read SO MANY stories from frustrated parents on the Class of 2025 FB page who are struggling to figure out how to support and encourage their knobs.  Spencer has made it easy for us.  As long as I keep a somewhat steady stream of care-packages heading his way, he has no complaints!  (Aside, as a mom and big fan of an organized, busy schedule, it's pretty awesome to watch him navigating time management and having some REALLY long, busy days.)  I can't wait to see him in a few weeks for Parent's weekend!

Have a great week everyone!  We have some fabulous, low-humidity weather heading this way for the next week or so and I can't wait to enjoy it!

Picture of the Week - 9/2/2021

 Happy College Football Season kick-off day!  

Also Happy September!  Where in the world did August go?  I don't know... poof and it's gone!

No big news here this week.  Everyone is settling into the school routines and doing really well.  Our football guys have practices 3 times a week - so we are super pumped that the humidity level is finally dropping.  It's been a hot and sticky month!  Zane and Beck are also wrestling once a week to keep a little fresh.  Quinn is ramping up his wrestling practices getting ready for the season start next month.  And Spencer is doing a LOT of working out with the Citadel wrestling team.  They have team lifts several times a day and have started technique practices as well.  We talk to him a few times a week and he's really doing well.  He's very busy and learning to figure out how to best deal with conflicts in his schedule, but he's good.  

Friday we get to knock-out a Class of 2022 senior milestone, when we get Quinn's yearbook senior pictures taken.  Woot!

Bob and I are going to take advantage of no football games this weekend to take the boys up to a ropes course they have been wanting to do.  The weather is going to cooperate beautifully!  Then church, a free day Monday, and back to the grind.  Countdown until we get to see Spencer is at 29 days.  Can't wait to hug that boy!!

Have a great first week of September!!

PS - It's college football season!  We had to celebrate with our traditional O-H-I-O picture!!

Picture of the Week - 8/26/2021

 What a great week!  

We have had so much good and wholesome and heart-filling this week!!  Yay fam!!

First, we finally heard from Spencer.  He's doing fine.  When people ask about him, they always first ask "is he having fun?" which I find kinda funny because this is not a fun-first kinda experience...  LOL  BUT he is good!  He has a good roommate with similar interests (Mechanical Eng major and doing Air Force ROTC) and has settled into life in the barracks.  Since he got his phone back we've talked nearly every day for a few minutes.  It's just enough to give me huge peace of mind that Spencer is still Spencer and is adjusting to life at a military college every bit as well as I had hoped he would.  We are really proud of him!  

This isn't to say there aren't challenges...  there are.  He's shared some of them and I'm sure there are others that he's keeping to himself.  I don't need to (or probably want to) know all the details.  What I do know is that he's got a really firm foundation and a really great support system (already) and is maneuvering around the hurdles in a very healthy way.  

PS - He's also started working out with the wrestling team and having a lot of fun with that.  Pretty special...

Second, football.  We are a couple of weeks into the season now and I think this year is going to be VERY fun!  The Bob/Beckett team has lots of friends on it we have made over the last 5 years.  It's really just so cool to watch these dudes grow up.  Zane is new to the coaching staff on his team, BUT he's played with many of the guys before and about a 3rd of them go to his middle school.  He is having an absolute blast.  He's playing on the line, which he has done for the last 7 years...  and it shows.  He is confident and competent - and occasionally pretty dominating.  His coaches tease him regularly about having "sexy tackles" and he is eating up the whole experience.  He also just got his first phone and went to his first middle school football game without parents in attendance.  Safe to say he's living his best 6th grade life!

And finally, sweet Quinn.  I am really enjoying senior year with Quinn so far!  I like his schedule and love the fact that he's having fun - while also focusing on SAT, school, and prep for wrestling season.  It's going to be a whirlwind of a year and I am ready for all of it!  (Except maybe the yearbook Senior Ad...  need to get on that...)  This year Quinn decided he was going to volunteer with me at church in Waumba Land (our baby-preschool rooms).  We are assigned to a group of 3 year olds and I LOVE everything about my Sunday mornings!!!  It is pretty fun to get to know a group of 3 year olds and help them have some fun while their parents are at service.  It's also amazing to watch Quinn with them.  I wish I could find the words to explain what watching him with those little bitties does to my heart.  Quinn has always been a care-taker, but seeing with my own eyes how he ENJOYS it and how they LOVE him just...  well I don't have words.  It's a gift and it's amazing and I can't wait to see what he does with it.  

This week...  Zane is off to 6th grade camp this weekend with his small group.  I am also off this weekend for a retreat with my small group.  I expect my version will involve less mud.  Bob/Beck have a game Saturday against a team coached by the dad of a kid Spencer played with in 6th grade.  It is weird because there are VERY few people we know from parent groups of BOTH our big boys and our younger set.  Should be fun to reconnect and I'm more than a little sad I will miss it.  

Here are a couple of pictures from the week.  The one of Spencer is a screen-grab from a Snapchat he sent me from when he was hanging out in one of his classrooms one day.  Classrooms are off-limits for the 4th class system, so he likes to find a quiet spot to hang out.  The boy is not dumb...  Zane picture with my parents is from his last game, where he earned Defensive player of the game after 3 sacks and a number of tackles-for-loss.  He was a beast in that game!  And the picture of Quinn and me is from last Sunday after our service.  I am so grateful that we get to spend that time together this year!  (ignore the fact that his poor face looked like he was in a fight...  it was from a wrestling practice.)

Have a great last week of August/start of September!